Soul-Searching…26,171

As we here at the Asylum sit in a comfortable, modest home in this beautiful country of the United States of America, I reflect that at 61 years of age, I have never faced a bomb dropping in my backyard, in my neighborhood, in my city or in my country.

We have been told the “war on terrorism” is to keep terror and terrorists from reaching our country, our cities, our neighborhoods. We’ve been told several versions of this since Iraq, then Afghanistan, then Libya, then Syria, and even before, yet the bombing – the “wars” continue.

We’ve been told we are “liberating” other countries – that we are stopping terrorism – yet the terrorism continues and has actually increased. We’re always told our government is doing something for someone that justifies these endless undeclared wars.

“War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives… It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes… In World War 1, a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict… [and] at least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made.” ~ Smedley D. Butler, War Is a Racket

Like you, I am just one person. Like you, I have problems. Some of our individual problems are extremely difficult to deal with – from our own personal health, both mental and physical – to caring for family members who are either very old and nearing their passing, or very young, with illnesses unfathomable to those of us who are relatively healthy. Joblessness, difficult marriages or relationships, loneliness, divorces, horrible jobs that must be endured to make ends meet…the list goes on and on. Yet, we as a people, we want (or should want) to be aware of the atrocities faced by other peoples and do what we can to stop them, especially if those atrocities are done directly or indirectly at the hands of the government we elect and support. And if we are so moved, we shout from the rooftops, shout from our computers, our phones, shout to those responsible for this on-going mess that it must stop. It starts with becoming aware, and then with the desire to pursue the truth – relentlessly. To that end, the following article provides, if nothing else, a sobering picture of what we, who foot the war bill with tax money – just what of our tax dollars are subsidizing. 26,171 bombs being dropped on countries in one year is enough to spur me to at least shout “stop this insanity” from the computer. Maybe enough of the collective consciousness can rise to a level where our voices will be heard and the lives of those who have survived these bombings and try to cope with their lives being torn apart, will be left alone to live as they choose.

“Now, according to U.S. foreign policy in Syria, we want to fight ISIS while also fighting Assad in Syria… even though ISIS is fighting against Assad in Syria, and the Russians are helping Syria fight ISIS… so we may have to fight Russia to stop them from fighting with Syria against ISIS. If that sounds insane to you, that’s because it is.” ~ Investigative Journalist Ben Swann

Among the many other landmark events that took place in 2016, the United States military dropped a whopping 26,171 bombs in foreign nations. This is hardly good news for those on the receiving end, and as conflict spreads in the Middle East and government pushes for all out war with Russia and China, ordinary Americans, those who foot the war bill with tax money, have some soul-searching to do.

Are the values this nation was founded on best shared with the world through violence and destruction? Has American ingenuity in all matters of science and productivity been eclipsed by out capacity to exert the will of the oligarchy though police actions and indiscriminate bombing? Is there ever a moment when enough is enough, and we admit that bombing people doesn’t create peace or achieve the aspirations of a free and moral people?

As reported by McClatchyDC:

“The U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs last year, 3,027 more than 2015.

According to an analysis of Defense Department data from the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan think tank, the majority of the bombs were dropped in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. leads an international coalition fighting the Islamic State group in both countries and has carried out air operations in attempt to reduce the area controlled by the terrorist organization.

Nearly the same amount of bombs were dropped in Syria (12,192) and Iraq (12,095) last year.” [Source]

What makes this achievement even more remarkable is the fact that at present the U.S. is not legally at war with any nation, therefore all of the bombs fell on nations and people which are not engaged in open conflict against the U.S.

“How incredible is this… the United States is technically not at war with any country right now but dropped more than 26,000 bombs in just 2016 and this under an “anti-war” President. We have an entire generation of Americans who have lived only under a system of “perpetual war”. The time is long overdue to redefine these issues.” –Ben Swann

Finally, what makes this achievement even more outstanding is the cognitive dissonance associated with the fact that the U.S. maintains the illusion of being a peaceful nation and all of these bombs, as well as the hundreds of thousands of bombs dropped in the last eight years were done so during the administration of a Nobel Peace Prize winner. This is Orwellian double-think at its finest.

“I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.” -President Theodore Roosevelt

The American public and the world have long since been warned of the dangers of allowing the military industrial complex to become such an integral part of our economic survival. The United States is the self-proclaimed angel of democracy in the world, but just as George Orwell warned, war is the health of the state, and in the language of newspeak, democracy is the term we use to hide the reality of the nature of our warfare state.